When a mobile device software application begins a multimedia session, the application typically does not have prior information at its disposal about the base station (BS) device radio and loading level of the radio. If a BS device radio is heavily loaded, it is less likely to support high bit rate video sessions. If the mobile application begins a video session using high bit rate, it is more prone to failure, frame pausing, and eventually downgrading of the bit rate (assuming the bit rate is variable). If the bit rate is not variable, the multimedia session is more prone to failure. Current methods cause mobile applications to test radio links by sending ping messages, receiving acknowledgements to test latency and sending data packets on the order of 10 kilobytes (KB) to discover throughput information. Unfortunately, this can cause delay in the establishment of the multimedia session and can also tax the radio interface.